


Sippin' Cider

by TellMeNoAgain



Series: Monster Mash and Fall Feels October 2020 [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fall Feelings, Fall Five Challenge, Fluff, Gen, References to period-appropriate child discipline techniques, kidfic!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26821087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TellMeNoAgain/pseuds/TellMeNoAgain
Summary: A fic based around my Fall Five: Sweater, Chai Tea Latte, Halloween, Cider, S’moresThis one is Cider.Bucky's cider, to be exact.Snuggle in for some fall feelings, perfect for this weather!
Series: Monster Mash and Fall Feels October 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956196
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Sippin' Cider

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks to the cheer-readers over in the WriterBuddies Discord Server! Livvibee, personaljunkdrawer, SamTheSnake, Orchidaexa, TedraKitty, mindwiped, and I think WinterIronCap, anyone else on there who also has a Ao3 should speak up so I can give love!
> 
> And thank you, as well, to my betas jf4m and mindwiped. Here's a mug of warm fall cider to snuggle up with, from me to you!

“Stevie, hey, Stevie, you up?” called the high, thin voice of Jimmy Barnes, as his footsteps pounded up the tenement stairwell.

“He’s up,” called Steve’s mom, blowing across her coffee with a smile for Steve.

Steve smiled weakly back.

Jimmy Barnes burst into the kitchen, an undersized whirlwind of charm and scabbed knees. “Heya, Stevie’s ma,” he greeted Sarah.

“Heya, yourself, Jimmy,” she teased. “Your ma say you could come visit?”

“Yeah, sure,” he chuckled, all mirth and merriment and motion, flitting around Steve’s chair eagerly. “Whatcha gonna draw me today, Stevie?” he asked eagerly.

Sarah and Steve shared a fond smile.

“I dunno,” said Steve slowly. “What’dja learn in classes today?”

“Awww, Stevie,” sighed Jimmy. “Can’t we do that _after?”_

“No, now, Jimmy, you know your ma only lets you come visit because you-” said Sarah slowly.

“No, no, I know, Stevie’s ma- Miss Sarah, I mean, ma’am,” said Jimmy, eyes wide with innocence as he shoved his McGuffy on the table and shuffled through it. “What did you do?” he mumbled at Steve.

“I’m up to page 25,” Steve reported a little proudly.

“Aww, heck,” swore Jimmy, and then ducked his head and apologized, “Sorry, ma’am. I meant, _hashbrowns_.”

“I’ll overlook it,” said Sarah decidedly, with a nod. Her lips were twitching, Steve noticed.

“Anyway, I only got to page 22, today, and Teacher said that was pretty good,” said Jimmy defensively. “You really got to page 25?”

“I did,” sighed Steve. “But what else did you do-”

“Well, we did times tables, o’course,” reported Jimmy.

“I did those, too,” said Steve seriously. 

“You’re all the way up to the twelves, huh?” asked Jimmy, like he did every day, as if hoping that somehow Steve would forget the elevens and nines and fall back to Jimmy’s level again.

“I’m working on ‘em,” agreed Steve delicately.

“Well, for history we’re still reading about Grant,” declared Jimmy.

“And you finished that yesterday,” Sarah reminded the table.

“Was there any science?” asked Steve, a little forlornly.

“You always ask that,” scorned Jimmy. “Like Teacher’s gonna let us have chemicals and build bombs and cut up frogs and stuff, with the big kids.”

“What was the writing assigned, today?” asked Sarah.

“Oh, we had to write down what we’d do if we was president,” said Bucky eagerly. “So you can do that, Stevie!”

“Jimmy for President,” mused Steve, his eyes lighting up. “What would you do, Jimmy?”

“Make ‘em sell cider for a penny, ‘stead of a nickel,” said Jimmy promptly. “They got it hot right across the school and ‘Becca and her friends had some and they didn’t share and said I was spoilin’ their experience and I said how her face was spoilin’ the whole _earth_ and ‘Becca said she’d tell dad I was being nasty to her and I said she could pound lumps with the hammer she calls a nose. And then something _happened_ and her dress got ripped.”

“Oh, Jimmy,” sighed Sarah, shaking her head and rising from the table. “Your father will be livid.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Jimmy suspiciously, setting his jaw. He squinted his eyes at Sarah and demanded, “What’s livid?”

“Means mad,” offered Steve, concerned. Everyone on the block knew about Jimmy’s dad.

“Oh, yeah, he’ll be hot as hashbrowns, but it made ‘Becca cry in front of all’a her friends and that’s all I care about,” said Jimmy with bravado, quickly crumbling into a mullish expression as Sarah and Steve looked at him with continued concern, muttering finally, “She coulda gave me a sip. ‘S all I wanted.”

“Mm,” said Sarah, slipping into her coat. “You boys mind Mrs. Cruthers, you hear me, Jimmy? Or I won’t have you around my Steve.”

“He always does,” said Steve firmly.

Jimmy nodded. “I do, Mrs. Sarah, I do. I don’t wanna get told I can’t come again, I promise.”

Sarah smiled gently and kissed them on the tops of their heads, first Steve, and then Jimmy. “Okay, then, boys. Be good.”

Steve and Jimmy watched her leave and then Jimmy turned to Steve and hissed, “I’m gonna marry her. Your ma is the best woman on earth, Stevie, _and_ she’s beautiful, _and_ she’s smart, smarter than my dumb ol’ ma, and I’m gonna marry her.”

“You can’t marry her,” laughed Steve, shaking his head and reaching for a pencil and a clean sheet of fresh paper. “She’ll be older than Mrs. Cruthers when you’re old enough to marry, Jimmy.”

“You wouldn’t mind, though, would you, Steve, if I asked her?” said Jimmy nervously. 

Steve considered it. “No, probably not. Just, don’t get mad at her when she says you’re too young, Jimmy.”

“I won’t. I’ll wait,” said Jimmy blithely. “I’ll wait and you’ll see. I’ll take such good care of her and of you, you’ll see.”

“Aww, don’t worry about that, Jimmy,” said Steve, flushing a little as he picked up the pencil and began to draw the first of the shapes he needed to tell the story he’d settled on. “We do okay.”

“Whatcha gonna draw me,” asked Jimmy brightly, leaning in.

“James Buchanon Barnes,” intoned Steve, pencil sliding across the page. “33rd President of the United States, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918.”

“Get out,” sighed Jimmy, resting his cheek on Steve’s thin bicep as it jerked across the page. Steve grinned, and continued the story.

The next day, Jimmy’s footfall on the stairs was a little less enthusiastic, but only a little.

“I got tanned,” he announced, slamming open the door, “So yous guys were right, that wasn’t- oh!”

“Close the door, Jimmy,” reminded Sarah gently.

Jimmy nodded and kicked the door shut, pulling off his cap and swallowing. “Is that- uh- Can- can I-?”

“I can go to school next week,” said Steve with a broad smile. “So we’re celebrating, and all I wanted was some cider.”

“Here, your cup’s all poured, we expected you five minutes ago,” said Sarah, already slipping into her coat, her smile an exact match of Steve’s. “You both mind Mrs. Cruthers, you hear?”

“Yes, ma,” said Steve, taking a sip and peering at Jimmy’s shocked and awed expression over the rim of his mug.

“Yes, ma’am,” whispered Jimmy, sitting gingerly on the chair beside Steve, hands reaching carefully to curl around the mug.

“Be good, boys,” said Sarah, kissing first Steve and then Jimmy, ruffling his hair. “And enjoy the treat.”

“Yes, ma,” said Steve, elbowing Jimmy after a second of silence.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Jimmy, unnaturally subdued by the mere presence of cider.

“Well, if I had known all it would take to settle you down was a mug of cider, James Barnes,” teased Sarah, “I’d’ve kept it on the burner this whole last year.”

Jimmy _blushed_ , and took his first sip, and sighed. “Oh, it’s heaven,” he declared. “I swear, I never tasted nothing as good as cider, not no lemonade nor any fountain seltzer or bottled _anything_.”

Sarah laughed, and said, “Tomorrow’s Saturday, Stevie, remember to put out the bin in the morning, when you get up.”

“I’ll remind him,” offered Jimmy brightly. “I’m coming over, so we can listen to the radio together, it’s The Green Hornet’s big two-hour extravergencia.”

“Extravaganza,” corrected Steve, smiling at his mother. “We’ll be quiet, when you get home.”

“I doubt it,” laughed Sarah. “Pour him another cup, when that one runs out,” she told Steve.

“Yes, ma,” said Steve happily.

“Yes, _ma’am_ ,” said Jimmy worshipfully.

The door closed.

“I’m gonna marry your ma, Stevie,” Jimmy announced.

“First you gotta get them 9 times tables down, I ain’t having an idjit dad,” said Steve staunchly.

Jimmy grumbled into his cup of cider, before taking another long draft and whispering, “Nothing like it. Nothing like it in the whole wide world. Nothing even comes close.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun, right? Feel free to rec me something that gets you in the mood to enjoy this season, OR scream at me that you want to do a fall five challenge, too! I'd love to read what you're writing out there!
> 
> Anyway, I'm going to be writing a fall/Halloween fic for every day this month, this year, even if they're not long and are just snippets like this one. I AM ALSO IN EDITING FOR THE NEXT STORY OF EVERY AU, so everybody relax. It's okay to have fun and just WRITE TO WRITE. Y'all'll get your plotty stuff, too.


End file.
